The Nothing Ear (open) Is Perfect — That’s Why I Returned Mine
A good earbud is hard to come by and even harder to keep clean sometimes. When I finally got my hands on the Nothing Ear (a), I knew I had hit the jackpot with headphones, and ultimately found peak sound quality.
Naturally, when I found out the Nothing Ear (open) was hitting the market, I was ecstatic. A few days later they were at my door.
The packaging — as I had come to expect — was perfect and minimal. The setup was easy, and while I was a little thrown by the eclair-esque case shape, the technology that Nothing had packed inside of these little companion pieces was much more than what meets the eye.
The engineering of the Nothing Ear (open) is a work of art and spares no creative expense. The fit was great and the open earbuds settled on the ridges and curves of my ears perfectly with the custom Sound Seal System making sure my sound remained mine. The advanced EQ and automatic bass enhancement were a pleasant surprise, too, as that hasn’t been what I’ve come to expect from anything outside of my ear canal.
Standard Nothing earbuds come with transparency mode, which is incredibly useful for hearing the world around you, and you also have the option to turn on noise cancelation to block it all out. This is where I found I wasn’t the ideal customer for the Nothing Ear (open), which allows all sound from the outside world in for the most transparent experience.
When I’m using my headphones, I don’t want to hear the world around me unless it’s on my own terms and when I’m not doing something else. There’s no option for that with these, which I really should have anticipated.
The concepts that Nothing has brought to life with these earbuds are undoubtedly going to lead to more innovation in the headphone space. If they ever go the route of bone conduction, I’ll be there. Until then, I’ve sent my Nothing Ear (open) back knowing these are the perfect open ear headphones, I’m just not an open ear customer.
★★★★★/5
